will show you how I respect it," he tore it into a thousand pieces,
and cast it beneath his horse's feet, while a laugh ran through the
men that attended him. "Turn your horse's head," he continued,
"without more ado, or I will have your arms tied behind your back, and
the horse led."
"My Lord," replied the young Count, "I must obey, for I have no means
of resisting; but let me remind you, that the Duke of Epernon was
always considered, even before what he is now, a gallant gentleman and
a man of good feeling, who would not insult those who were too weak to
oppose him, and who did their duty honourably as far as it was
possible for them to do it."
"Your civility now, sir," replied the Duke, "like your rash folly a
week or two ago, is too contemptible to make any change in the Duke of
Epernon. That foolish party of light horse," he continued, speaking to
one of his attendants, "must have suffered this malapert youth and his
fair charge to have passed it. Turn the litter round there; take care
that none of them escape."
"The boy has made off already," replied one of the men. "Shall I
gallop after him, my Lord? He may tell the Duke of Guise."
"Let him!" answered Epernon. "Go not one of you; but bring the rest of
them along hither."
Without giving any intimation of his intent, Charles of Montsoreau
turned his horse suddenly back to the side of the litter, and drew the
curtain back, saying to Marie de Clairvaut, who sat pale and anxious
within it, "You hear what has happened; there is no power of
resistance, for they are ten to one: but the boy has escaped, and will
give the Duke notice of where you are. In the mean time it is one
comfort, that now you are in the hands of one who is, at all events, a
man of honour and a gentleman in feeling."
What he said was intended to give comfort and consolation to Marie de
Clairvaut; but it reached the ear of the Duke of Epernon likewise. "I
must suffer no farther conversation," he said in a gentler tone than
he had before used. "You will understand, Monsieur de Logeres, that I
have authority for what I do; and that I arrest you out of no personal
vengeance, but because the order has been already given to that
effect."
"My Lord," replied the young Count, "I care very little for my own
arrest, as I know that I can but be detained a short time: but I
confess I am most anxious for the young lady placed under my especial
charge by the Duke of Guise, as I have shown your Lordship by the
paper you have torn. If she is to remain in your Lordship's charge, I
shall be more satisfied; but if she is to be given up to Monsieur de
Villequier, the consequences will indeed be painful to all. You are
perhaps not aware, my Lord, that he sent her to a place where the
plague was raging at the time, where six persons of her household died
of it, and the rest fled, leaving her utterly alone."
The Duke seemed moved, and after remaining silent for a minute, he
replied, "I did not know it; the man who would murder his wife, would
make no great scruple of killing his cousin, I suppose. However, sir,
set your mind at ease: though I cannot promise that she shall remain
with the Duchess of Epernon, she shall not be given up to Villequier
either by myself or by any body in whose hands I may place her. Is
that assurance sufficient for you?"
"Perfectly, my Lord," replied Charles of Montsoreau. "The Duke of
Epernon's promise is as good as the bond of other men."
"Well, follow me, then," replied the Duke, and, riding on alone, he
left the young Count in the hands of his attendants.
CHAP. IX.
It was in one of the saloons of the old Cardinal de Bourbon, in the
town of Soissons, that Henry Duke of Guise, princely in his habit,
princely in his aspect, with his foot raised upon a footstool of
crimson and gold, a high plumed Spanish hat upon his head, manifold
parchments before him, and a pen in his hand, sat alone on a day in
the month of April with his eyes fixed upon a door at the other end of
the room, as if waiting for the entrance of some one.
The next moment the door was thrown wide open, and, preceded by two
servants announcing him to the Duke, appeared a small and not very
striking personage plainly habited in black velvet. The moment the
Duke saw him, he rose, and for an instant uncovered his head, then
covering himself again he advanced to meet him, and took him by the
hand, saying "Monsieur de Bellievre, I am delighted to see you. The
King could not have chosen any one more gratifying to myself to
receive: in the first place, because I know that I shall hear nothing
but truth from the lips of Monsieur de Bellievre; and, in the next
place, because I am sure no one will bear more exactly to his Majesty
any reply I may have to make to the message with which I understand
you are charged."
"The confidence which your Highness expresses in me," replied
Bellievre, as the Duke led him towards the table, and made him seat
himself beside him, "does great honour to so humble an individual as
myself. Nevertheless, I must deliver the King's message, my Lord,
precisely as it was given to me; and should there be any thing in it
disagreeable to your Highness, I trust that you will excuse the
bearer, and consider the matter dispassionately."
"Proceed, proceed," replied the Duke; "as in duty bound I shall
receive his Majesty's communication with all deference and humility."
"Well, then," replied Bellievre, "I am charged by his Majesty to
assure your Highness that his personal esteem and respect for you is
very great; and that he has never, in any degree, given ear to the
injurious reports which persons inimical to your Highness have been
industrious in circulating to your disadvantage."
"Your pardon, Monsieur de Bellievre, for one moment," said the Duke,
interrupting him. "To what injurious reports does his Majesty allude?
I am ignorant that any one has dared to circulate injurious reports of
me; and if such be the case, it is high time that I should proceed to
the capital to confront and shame my accusers."
As this was not at all the point to which the King's envoy wished to
bring the Duke, he looked not a little embarrassed what to reply. He
answered, however, after a moment's pause, "It would, indeed, be
requisite for you to do so, my Lord, if I did not bear you the King's
most positive assurance that he gives no ear to such reports. But to
proceed: his Majesty has bid me strongly express his full conviction
of your attachment, fidelity, and affection, but has commanded me to
add that, having heard it reported your intention is immediately to
present yourself in Paris, he is unwillingly obliged, by state reasons
of the utmost importance, to request that you would forbear the
execution of that purpose."
It was not without some hesitation and apparent emotion that Bellievre
spoke; but the Duke heard him with perfect calmness, though with a
slight contraction of the brow.
"The report," he answered, "of my intention of visiting Paris is
perfectly correct, Monsieur de Bellievre; nor can I, indeed, refrain
from executing that purpose, with all due deference to his Majesty,
for many reasons, amongst which those that you yourself give me of
injurious rumours being rife in the capital regarding me, are not the
least cogent. Thus, unless the King intends to signify by you,
Monsieur de Bellievre, that he positively prohibits my coming into
Paris--which, of course, he would not do--I see not how I can avoid
doing simple justice to myself by returning to my own dwelling in the
capital of this country."
"I grieve to say, your Highness," replied Bellievre, seeing that the
worst must be told, "I grieve to say, that while the King has charged
me to assure you of his regard and his confidence in you, he none the
less instructed me to make the prohibition on his part absolute and
distinct."
The Duke of Guise started up with his brow knit and his eyes flashing.
"Is this the reward," he exclaimed, "of all the services I have
rendered the state? Is this the recompense for having shed my blood so
often in defence of France? to be dishonoured in the eyes of all the
people, by being banished from the metropolis, to be excluded from the
companionship of all my friends, to be cut off from transacting my own
private affairs, to be talked of and pointed at as the exiled Duke of
Guise, and to have the boys singing in the streets the woeful ditty of
my sufferings and a King's ingratitude?" And as he spoke, the Duke
took two or three rapid strides up and down the room.
"Indeed, indeed, your Highness," cried Bellievre, "you take it up too
warmly. The King is far from ungrateful, but most thankful for your
high services; but it is for the good of the state that you love, for
the safety and security of the people of the capital who are in a
tumultuous and highly excitable state, that he wishes you to refrain
from coming----"
"That he sends me a message dishonouring to myself and to my House,"
replied the Duke. "That he marks me out from the rest of the nobles of
the land, by a prohibition which I may venture to say is unjust and
unmerited. I must take some days to think of this, Monsieur de
Bellievre; nor can I in any way promise not to visit Paris. Were it
but to protect, support, and guide my friends and relations, I ought
to go; were it but on account of the church for which I am ready to
shed my blood if it be necessary, persecuted, reviled, assailed as
that holy church is; were it but for my attendants and supporters, who
are attacked, abused, and ill-treated in the streets and public ways."
"As for the church, your Highness," replied Bellievre, "none is more
sincerely attached to it than the King and the King's advisers. It
will stand long, my Lord, depend upon it, without any further
assistance than that which you have already so ably given it. Your
relations, my Lord, and household," he said, "are not and cannot be
ill-treated."
"How?" exclaimed the Duke. "Is not my dear sister Margaret even now,
as it were, proscribed by the King and his court? Is not every thing
done to drive her from Paris? Have not her servants been struck by
those of Villequier in the open streets?"
"I know," replied Bellievre, "that a month or two ago Madame de
Montpensier was subject to some little annoyance, but as soon as it
came to the King's ears he had it instantly remedied, and only wished
her to quit Paris for her own security."
"The House of Guise, sir, have always been secure in the capital of
France," replied the Duke; "and I trust always will be."
"Nothing has occurred since I trust, my Lord," continued Bellievre.
"The King is most anxious that you should have satisfaction in every
thing, and will give you the strongest assurances that your family,
your household, and your friends, shall be in every respect well
treated and protected, as indeed he has always wished them to be."
The Duke threw himself down in his chair and rang the bell that stood
upon the table violently. "Ho! without there!" he exclaimed. "Bring in
that page that arrived hither a night or two ago, when I was absent at
Jamets."
The attendant who had appeared retired, and the Duke sat silent,
gazing with a frown at the papers on the table. "May I ask your
Highness," said Bellievre, not knowing what interpretation to put upon
this conduct, "May I ask your Highness whether I am to conceive my
audience at an end?"
"No, Monsieur de Bellievre, no," replied the Duke in a milder tone;
"for _you_ I have a high respect and esteem, and will listen to you
upon this subject longer than I would to most men. I wish you to hear
and to know how the friends of the Duke of Guise are treated, what
protection and favour is shown to them at the court of France. Perhaps
you will hear some things that are new to you--perhaps they may be new
to the King too," he added, a slight sneer curling his haughty lip.
"But be that as it may, Monsieur de Bellievre, I think I can show you
good cause why the Duke of Guise should be no longer absent from
Paris. Come hither, boy," he added, as the page Ignati entered the
room, "Come hither, boy, and answer my questions. Thou art both witty
and honest, but give me plain straightforward replies. Stand at my
knee and answer, so that this gentleman may hear."
The boy advanced, and did as the Duke bade him, turning his face
towards Bellievre, with his left hand to the Duke.
"You went to Paris," said Guise, "with my friend the young Count of
Logeres; did you not? Were you aware of the cause of his going?"
"He went, I understood your Highness," replied the boy, "to seek a
young lady, a relation of your own, who had been carried to Paris by a
body of the King's troops while on her way to join your Highness."
"Can you tell what was Monsieur de Logeres' success?" said the Duke.
"I know he saw the King," replied the boy, "and heard that he had been
promised a letter to all the governors and commanders in different
places to aid him in seeking for the young Lady, and bringing her back
to your Highness. I heard also that it was for this paper he waited
from day to day in Paris, but that it never came."
"I beg your Highness's pardon," said Bellievre interrupting the boy,
"but you will remark that this is all hearsay. He does not seem to
speak at all from his own knowledge."
"That will come after," answered the Duke somewhat sharply. "Go on,
Ignati. What do you know more?"
"What I have said," replied the boy, "is more than hearsay, my Lord,
for while we staid in Paris the good Count bade us always be ready at
a moment's notice to set out, for he could not tell when the letter
from Monsieur de Villequier would arrive. It never came, however, and
one night the Count having, as I understood, gained information of
where Mademoiselle de Clairvaut was, set out with his man Gondrin and
myself to seek her. We found that she had been brought by a body of
the King's troops to a chateau or a palace, for it looked more like a
palace than a chateau, called Morvillette, I believe near Chateauneuf,
where the plague was then raging, when the King's soldiers left her.
By the time we arrived the plague had reached the chateau, six or
seven people were dead, and all the rest had fled, leaving the young
lady with nobody in the palace, and none but one old groom in the
stables."
The Duke's eye fixed sternly upon the countenance of Bellievre, and he
muttered between his teeth, "This is the doing, Monsieur de Bellievre,
of my excellent good friend, the King of France. Go on, boy; go on!
Proceed. What happened next?"
"The lady was most joyous of her deliverance," continued the boy, "and
eager to come to your Highness; and we set out the next morning before
day-break, and reached Chartres, where the Count bought a litter for
her greater convenience. At a short distance from Chartres, however,
we were met by the Duke of Epernon and his train wolf-hunting, and the
Duke immediately stopped us, and insisted upon the Count going back
with him to Epernon. The Count produced the King's passports, but the
Duke said that there were doubts of his being authorised by you."
"Did he not show him my own letter?" exclaimed the Duke. "Did he not
show him the authority I gave him under my own hand?"
"He did, my Lord; he did," replied the boy; "but the Duke of Epernon
said he would show in what respect he held your Highness's letter, and
tearing it in several pieces he threw it down under his horse's feet."
Bellievre continued to look down upon the ground with a brow which
certainly displayed but little satisfaction. The Duke of Guise,
however, though he had been frowning the moment before, now only
smiled as the boy related the incident of the letter; the smile was
somewhat contemptuous, indeed; but he said merely, "Go on, boy. What
happened next?"
"Nay, my Lord," replied the boy, "what happened to them I know not,
for seeing that the Duke held them prisoners, and was taking them back
to Epernon, I made my escape as fast as I well could, and came hither
to tell you into whose hands the young lady and Monsieur de Logeres
had fallen."
"You did quite right, boy," said the Duke; "and now you may retire.
You hear, Monsieur de Bellievre," he continued, "with what kindness,
protection, support, and generosity the King treats the friends of the
Duke of Guise! First he casts my poor niece's child into the hands of
Villequier, something worse than those of the hangman of Paris, and
then between them they send her into the midst of the pestilence; then
comes Monsieur d'Epernon to confirm all, arrests my friend bearing the
King's own passports and safeguard, seizes upon my own relation and
ward, and carries them both I know not whither."
"Perhaps your Highness," said Bellievre, "the Duke of Epernon might
have motives that we do not know. At all events the King----"
"Fie, Monsieur de Bellievre, fie!" exclaimed the Duke vehemently. "I
will tell you what! It is time the Duke of Guise were in Paris, if but
to deliver the King from such Dukes of Epernon who abuse his
authority, disgrace his name, absorb his favours, ruin the state,
overthrow the church, and dare do acts that make men blush for shame.
France will no longer suffer him, sir; France will no longer suffer
him! If I free not the King from him and such as he is, the people
will rise up and commit some foul attempt upon the royal authority.
What," he continued, with fierce scorn, "What, though he be Baron of
Caumont, Duke of Epernon, raised out of his place to sit near the
princes of the blood, Governor of Metz and Normandy, of the
Boulonnais, and Aunis, of Touraine, Saintonge, and Angoumois,
Colonel-general of Infantry, and Governor of Anjou, a Knight of the
order of the Holy Ghost! he shall find this simple steel sword of
Henry of Guise sufficiently sharp to cut his parchments into pieces,
and send him back a beggar to the class he sprung from."
The Duke spoke so rapidly, that to interrupt him was impossible; and
so angrily, that Bellievre, overawed, remained silent for a moment or
two after he had done, while the Prince bent his eyes down upon the
table, and played with the golden tassels of his sword-knot, as if
half ashamed of the vehemence he had displayed.
"I did not come here, your Highness," he said, "either as the envoy or
the advocate of the Duke of Epernon. You must well know that there is
no great love between us; and I doubt not, when your Highness comes to
call him to account for his deeds, that justice will be found entirely
on your side. But I came on the part of the King; and I beseech you to
consider, my good Lord, what may be the consequences of pressing even
any severe charges against the Duke of Epernon at this moment, when
his Majesty is contending with the heretics on the one side, and is
somewhat troubled by an unruly people on the other."
"Is he indeed contending with any body or any thing, Bellievre?"
demanded the Duke. "Is he indeed contending against the Bearnois? Is
he contending against the indolence of his own nature, or rather
against the indolence into which corrupt favourites have cast him? Is
he contending against the iniquities of Villequier, or the exactions
of Epernon? Is he contending against any thing less contemptible than
a spaniel puppy or an unteachable parrot? My love and attachment to
the King and his crown, Bellievre, are greater than yours; and, as my
final reply, I beg you humbly to inform his Majesty on my part, that
if I do not promptly and entirely obey him in this matter of not
coming to Paris, it is solely because I am compelled to do as I do,
for the good of the church, for the safety of the state, for the
security of my own relations and friends, and even for the benefit of
his Majesty himself. This is my final reply."
"Yet one word, my Lord," replied Bellievre. "At all events, if your
determination to visit the capital be taken, will you not at least, at
my earnest prayer, delay your journey till I myself can return to
Paris, and obtaining more ample explanations of the King's purposes,
come back to you and confer with you farther on the subject."
"I see not, Monsieur de Bellievre," said the Duke of Guise, "what good
could be obtained by such delay. I do not at all mean to say that you
would take advantage of my confidence to prepare any evil measures
against me; but others might do so: and besides, my honour calls me
not to leave my friends in peril for a moment, even though I called
upon my head the enmity of a whole host in stepping forward to rescue
them."
"I pledge you my honour, my Lord," replied Bellievre, "that if you
will consent to delay, no measures shall be taken against you; and I
will do the very best I can to induce the King to make any atonement
in his power to your friends. As to this young Count of Logeres, I
never heard of him before to-day, and know not what has been done with
him at all; and in regard to Mademoiselle de Clairvaut, she is
doubtless in the hands of Villequier, who, I understand, claims the
guardianship."
"To which he has less right," replied the Duke angrily, "than that
footstool; and if he contends with me, I will spurn him as I do it;"
and he suited the gesture to the word. "But still I see not,"
continued the Duke, "what is to be gained by this delay to either
party."
"This, my good Lord," replied Bellievre. "I am well aware that his
Majesty the King has sent me here without sufficient powers to make
you just and definite proposals. This I believe to have been entirely
from the haste in which I came away, there being no time for thought.
But if you permit me to return with assurance that you will wait but a
few days, I feel convinced that I shall come back to you with offers
so abundant, so satisfactory, and so well secured, that your Lordship
will change your resolution."
The Duke mused for a moment or two. "Well, Monsieur de Bellievre," he
said at length, "though I entertain no such hopes as you do, I must
yield something to my loyalty, and to my real desire of obeying the
King; although, perhaps, my duty to my country and to the church might
well lead me to more prompt proceedings. I will, therefore, delay my
journey for a day or two; but you must use all speed, and I must have
no trifling. You know all my just grievances: those must be remedied,
the church must be secured; and for the quiet and the satisfaction of
the people who abhor and detest him, as well as for the relief of the
nobles who have long been shut out from all favour by that unworthy
minion, this John of Nogaret, this Duke of Epernon, must be banished
from the court and councils of the King, and stripped of the places
and dignities which he has won from the weak condescension of the
Monarch. You understand me, Monsieur de Bellievre," he said in a
sterner tone, seeing that Bellievre looked somewhat dismayed at the
extent of his demands. "Undertake not the mission if you think that
you cannot succeed in it; but let me on my way without more
opposition."
"My Lord, I will do my best to succeed," replied Bellievre; "and trust
that I shall do so. How many days will your Highness give me?"
"Nay, nay," replied the Duke; "that I cannot tell, Monsieur de
Bellievre. Suffice it, I will delay as long as my honour permits me;
and you on your part lose not an hour in making the necessary
arrangements, and bringing the King's reply."
As he spoke the Duke rose to terminate the conference; and then added,
"I fear, Monsieur de Bellievre, as I am expecting every moment my
brother, the Cardinal de Guise, and his Eminence of Bourbon, to confer
with me upon matters of importance, I cannot do the honours of the
house to you as I could wish; but Pericard, my secretary and friend,
will attend upon you, and insure that you have every sort of
refreshment. I will send for him this moment." And so doing, he placed
Bellievre in the hands of his secretary, and turned once more to other
business.
The King's envoy sped back to Paris, scarcely giving himself time to
take necessary refreshment; but on his arrival in the capital he first
found a difficulty even in seeing the Monarch; and when he did see
him, found him once more plunged in that state of luxurious and
effeminate indolence from which he was only roused by occasional fits
of excitement, which sometimes enabled him to resume the monarch and
the man, but more frequently carried him into the wildest and most
frantic excesses of debauchery.